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A Lowell police officer was charged with motor vehicle homicide and drunken driving after a crash early Saturday morning in Methuen left a young Lawrence man dead and his sister injured.

Methuen police say Officer Eric Wayne, 41, from Lowell, was driving a 2013 Land Rover westbound on Riverside Drive when he crossed the double yellow line and struck a 1998 Mercury Mountaineer at approximately 12:30 a.m. Saturday.

Firefighters used the Jaws of Life to extricate the driver of the Mountaineer, 26-year-old Briant Paula, from the car. He was pronounced dead at Lawrence General Hospital after suffering massive trauma, police say.

His sister, Lois Paula, 24, who was in the passenger seat, was also taken to that hospital. She was expected to survive.

Wayne refused medical treatment at the scene at 868 Riverside Drive, according to police.

He was arrested and taken to the Methuen police station, where he was charged with driving under the influence of liquor, having an open container of alcohol in the car, negligence, and marked lanes violation, in addition to vehicular homicide.

He is being held on $500,000 cash bail awaiting a Monday arraignment in Lawrence District Court, according to Essex District Attorney spokeswoman Carrie Kimball Monahan.

Wayne had been arrested in July 2013 in Lowell on charges of operating under the influence of alcohol, according to a report in the Lowell Sun.

After the 2013 case, Wayne was placed on paid administrative leave, then reinstated in June, Lowell Police Superintendent William Taylor told the Sun on Saturday.

Because that charge and Saturday’s are still pending, Wayne has not been formally disciplined, Taylor told the Sun.